El Filósofo

Think Deeply, Feel Fully

Filosofical Fragments

  • Judaism

    Fun fact about me: I actually prefer the Old Testament to the New. I know what you’re about to say: “But it’s so horrid! There’s so many violent parts! There’s so many strange laws! It’s just so… ugh!” But do you know what? That’s exactly what I like about it. It’s not that I don’t…

  • Chicken & Waffles

    Breakfast is said to be the most important meal of the day, but what is breakfast? Aside from (incidentally) being my least favourite meal, most people would split the word in two and say that breakfast is when you break the fast. It is the first meal of your day. But what if, hypothetically, I…

  • The Meaning of History

    Never let anything as trivial as facts get in the way of a good story. I don’t know how much I’ve properly written about my time in Rome. Most of my writing about it was posted to a class blog that I may have linked here, but all the same there remains a great deal…

  • The Theologian’s Nightmare

    I hadn’t read much of Bertrand Russell until recently, when I came across a very short essay called The Theologian’s Nightmare. Mind! it’s less of an essay and more of a short story. In it, the esteemed theologian finds himself on the way to Heaven only to be subjected to greater inquisition than he was…

  • Hirayama and My Father

    People like to complain about work, and I can understand why. For many (if not all) of us, it is frustrating since it is often something we find ourselves needing to do rather than wanting to do. Common quips about having a “9-to-5” reflect this attitude: a person is certainly more than what they do!…

  • Hinduism

    Believe it or not, when I was staying at a Benedictine monastery, I was never told to read the Bible. No, only book I was recommended (by a monk who enjoyed listening to heavy metal) was the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu classic. It was fitting that a monk who enjoyed metal would recommend it to…

  • Religion: For Shits ‘N Giggles

    I want to try something a little bit different. Usually whatever I post here is nothing more than a fanciful thought that I’ve lingered on more than another for a short period of time. Other times, they are questions that have beguiled me for some time, and so writing is my means of processing those…

  • Criticising Criticism

    Years ago, my mother was looking through a book of letters written by some famous author and felt inspired to write me one. Amongst the many things she said, she lamented the fact that letter-writing is a dying art. While our means of communication are far more convenient nowadays, letters generally required that more thought…

  • The Ethics of Korobu

    I would like to begin today’s reflection with this, a pondering of a Biblical verse that I mentioned last week: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13) I expect most people would read this anachronistically, supposing that Jesus is referring to his death on the…

  • Greater love has no one than this

    God knows I have my gripes with this country (politically-speaking); however, the American Constitution states that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” and I believe that is a fine statement! Indeed, for the time…